Refuse container



March 22, 1966 J. c. BRIGHTON 3,241,750

REFUSE CONTAINER Filed Aug. 10, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

March 22, 1966 J. c. BRIGHTON 3,241,750

REFUSE CONTAINER Filed Aug. 10, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. /ih/ Z Z/ 'y%/m;

United States Patent Industries, Inc., Columbus, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed Aug. 10, 1964, Ser. No. 388,354 10 Claims. (Cl. 23243.2)

This invention relates to a refuse container, and more particularly to a refuse container employing a disposable refuse bag.

It is an object of the invention to provide a refuse container of attractive appearance which can be inexpensively manufactured largely from sheet-metal, which can be used with a disposable refuse holding bag, which will securely retain said bag in' an open operative position but which will permit said bag to be'quickly and easily placed in and removed from said operative position, and which will protect said bag from animals.

In acocrdance with the preferred form of the invention, there is provided a cabinet having a plurality of interconnected side walls. The lower end of said cabinet is closed by a floor rigidly connected to said side walls. The front and top of the cabinet are closed by a door and a lid, respectively, swingably mounted on the cabinet.

The upper ends of the door and one of the side walls are provided with channeled flanges supporting a pair of loops receivable over a pair of the edges of a refuse bag for retaining said edges against the channeled flanges. The upper ends of the other pair of side walls have inwardly projecting generally Z-shaped flanges consisting of upper and lower stretches interconnected by vertical webs. A clamp is mounted on each of the Z-shaped flanges on a first axis and for swinging movement into an operative position extending over its associated flange. A lever is swingably mounted on each clamp on a second axis transverse to said firstaxis for engagement with a camming wall formed in the Z-shaped flange for bindingly retaining said clamp in a locked position against said flange. In this manner, the other pair of upper edges of the refuse bag can be bindingly gripped between the Z-shaped flanges and the clamps for supporting the bag in the cabinet.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refuse container embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the refuse container shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the refuse container shown in FIG. 1, but showing the lid and door thereof in open positions;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3, but showing the door in a closed position;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 5-5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 3 with the bag removed; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 77 of FIG. 2.

As shown, the container comprises a cabinet conveniently formed from sheet-metal and having three interconnected side walls 10, 11, and 12 with the front edges of the side walls 10 and 12 being bent inwardly and rearwardly at 13. The lower end of the cabinet is enclosed by a floor 14 having a peripheral skirt 16 rigidly connected to the side walls 10-12. A pair of brackets 18 are mounted on the side wall 11 and project rearwardly therefrom to support an axle 20 upon which a pair of wheels 22 are mounted. The wheels 22 project downwardly below the lower end of the cabinet but above the bottom of four ground-engaging feet 24 mounted on the floor 14 adjacent the corners thereof, thereby leaving the wheels free to spin when the cabinet is 1n an upright position. When the cabinet is tilted to facilitate its movement, the wheels act as a pivot for lifting the feet off the ground. Conveniently, a handle 25 is mounted on the wall 11 adjacent the upper end thereof to facilitate movement of the container on the wheels 22.

The front of the cabinet is closed by a door 26 provided with inwardly projecting flanges 28 along its lateral and lower edges and connected to the inwardly directed stretch 13 of the side wall 12 by a plurality of hinges 30 for swinging movement about the vertical axis of said hinges. A finger latch 32 is swingably mounted on the door 26 along its edge opposite the hinges 30 for locking engagement with a pin 34 mounted on the stretch 13 of the side wall 10.

A pair of brackets 36 are mounted adjacent the upper rear corners of the side walls 10 and 12 and support hinge pins 38 upon which a lid 39 having a peripheral border skirt 40 and a handle 42 is swingably mounted.

The upper edges of the door 26 and side wall 11 are each provided with a downwardly open channel comprising a horizontal stretch 44 and a vertical stretch 45. The upper ends of the opposed side walls 10 and 12 are provided with generally Z-shaped flanges each of which comprises a horizontal stretch 46 interconnected by a vertical web 47 to a lower stretch 50 angled upwardly and inwardly into the cabinet. Each of the stretches 46 has a longitudinally extending slot 52 with a downwardly projecting wall 54 along one of its edges forming a camming surface. An inwardly and downwardly directed U-shaped Wire loop 76 is swingably mounted on brackets 77 on each of the horizontal stretches 44 for interconnecting said loops and stretches 44. The loops 76 are swingable into operative positions projecting downwardly into the cabinet for holding the other pair of opposed upper edges of a bag 48 against the vertical flange stretches 45. As shown in FIG. 3, the clamps and the brackets 77 are mounted laterally inwardly from the outer edges of the flange stretches 46 so that the lid skirt 40 can be received on the stretches 46 and 44 for sup orting the lid 39 in its closed position.

In order to support a refuse bag 48 within the cabinet, a pair of identically constructed clamps are mounted on the flange stretches 46. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, each of the clamps has a pair of hinge plates 56 mounted on side walls 10 and 12 by rivets 58 for interconnecting the clamps to the flanges on said side walls. The plates 56 are connected by pintles 60 to a pair of sleeves 62, with said pintles forming a first swinging axis for the clamp to permit it to be swung from its retracted position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5 into its operative position shown in full lines. The sleeves 62, which are disposed adjacent the opposite ends of the clamp, are integral with a first wall 64 interconnected along one of its edges to a second wall 65 normal to the wall 64. The opposite edge of the wall 65 is continuous with a downwardly open channel 66 angled obliquely outwardly for reception over the lower flange stretch 50 when the clamp is in its operative position. As shown in FIG. 6, a wing 68 projects upwardly from the first wall 64 intermediate its length and swingably supports a lever 70 mounted on a pin 72 defining a pivot axis normal to the axis defined by the pintles 60. The lever 70 has a nose 74 which, when the clamp is swung into its operative position, is receivable in the slot 52 to bear against the camming wall 54 for camming the clamp about the axis of the pintles 60 into 3 binding engagement with the flanges on the side walls 10 and 12.

To mount a bag within the cabinet, the door 26 is moved into its closed position, and the loops 76 on said door and the side wall 11 are swung downwardly to retain the adjacent edges of the bag 48 against the flange stretches 45. The other pair of the upper bag edges will be disposed against the flanges on the walls 10 and 12, and with the bag in such position, the clamps are swung downwardly into their operative position shown in FIG. whereupon the bag will be interposed between the clamp walls 64 and flange stretches 46, between the clamp walls 65 and flange stretches 47, and between the clamp channels 66 and flange stretches 50. The levers 70 are then swung about the axes of the pins 72 to cause their noses 74 to bear against the camming walls 54 to bindingly retain the bag between the clamps and their associated flanges for thus supporting the bag 48 in the container and for releasably locking said clamps in their operative positions.

To remove the bag, it is merely necessary to move the levers 70 into positions to swing their noses 74 out of engagement with the camming walls 54, whereupon the weight of the material in the bag will cause said bag to slide out from between the clamps and their associated flanges and from between the loops 76 and flange stretches 45.

I claim:

1. A refuse container, comprising (a) a cabinet having a plurality of interconnected side walls,

(b) a door mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement about a vertical axis between open and closed positions,

(c) a pair of said side walls in opposed relationship having generally Z-shaped flanges projecting inwardly from their upper ends, each of said flanges having upper and lower stretches interconnected by a vertical web,

((1) a clamp swingably interconnected to each of said flanges on a first axis for swinging movement into an operative position extending over its associated flange stretches and web, and

(e) a lever swingably mounted on each clamp on a second axis transverse to said first axis and engageable with cam means on said flanges for bindingly retaining said clamps against said flange stretches and webs, whereby the upper end of a refuse bag can be bindingly gripped between said flanges and clamps for supporting said bag in the cabinet.

2. A refuse container as set forth in claim 1 in which (a) said lower stretches on said flanges angle upwardly, and

(b) said clamps have downwardly'angled channels receivablo over said lower stretches.

3. A refuse container as set forth in claim 1 in which (a) said levers are swingable into slots formed in the upper flange stretches, and

(b) said cam means comprises a vertical wall along an edge of each of said slots engageable with said levers for swinging said clamps about said first axes into binding engagement with said flanges.

4. A refuse container as set forth in claim 1 in which each of said clamps is provided with (a) a pair of hinge plates mounted on a pair of said side walls,

(b) a pair of sleeves swingably connected to said pair of plates on said first axis, and

(c) a first wall connected to said sleeves and interconnected by a second wall to a channel,

(d) said first wall, second wall and channel being re". spectively received against said upper stretch, web, and lower stretch of one of said Z-shaped flanges when the clamp is moved into its operative position.

5- A. ref e c ntainer a e rth in c im 4 in which (a) said lever is swingably interconnected to a wing projecting upwardly from said first wall.

6. A refuse container as set forth in claim 4 in which (a) said second wall is normal to said first wall and said channel angles obliquely outwardly when said clamp is in operative position for reception over said lower flange stretches.

7. A refuse container, comprising (a) a cabinet having a plurality of interconnected side walls,

(b) a door mounted on said cabinet for swinging movement about a vertical axis between open and closed positions,

(c) a pair of said side walls in opposed relationship having generally Z-shaped flanges projecting inwardly from their upper ends, each of said flanges having upper and lower stretches interconnected by a vertical web,

(d) a clamp swingably interconnected to each of said flanges on a first axis for swinging movement into an operative position extending over its associated flange stretches and web,

(e) a lever swingably mounted on each clamp on a second axis transverse to said first axis and engageable with cam means on said flanges for bindingly retaining said clamps against said flange stretches and webs, whereby the upper end of a refuse bag can be bindingly gripped between said flanges and clamps for supporting said bag in the cabinet, and

(f) a lid swingably connected to said cabinet and having a peripheral border skirt adapted to seat on said flanges outside the horizontal extent of said clamps when said lid is moved into its closed position.

8. A refuse container, comprising (a) a cabinet having a pair of side walls interconnected by a third side wall,

(b) a door swingably mounted on one of said pair of side walls and having latch means cooperatively engageable with latch means on the other of said pair of side walls,

(0) the upper ends of said pair of side walls being provided with inwardly projecting generally Z-shaped flanges having upper and lower stretches interconnected by vertically extending Webs and the upper ends of said door and third side wall having downwardly directed channeled flanges at their upper ends.

(d) a downwardly directed loop interconnected to each of said channeled flanges and adapted to be received over a pair of upper edges of a refuse bag for retaining said edges against said channeled flanges,

(e) a clamp swingably interconnected to each of said Z-shaped flanges on a first axis for swinging movement into an operative position extending over its associated flange stretches and web, and

(f) a lever swingably mounted on each clamp on a second axis transverse to said first axis and engageable with cam means on said flanges for bindingly retaining said clamps against said flange stretches and webs, whereby a second pair of edges at the upper end of a refuse bag can be bindingly gripped between said Z-shaped flanges and clamps for supporting said bag in the cabinet.

9. A refuse container, comprising (a) a cabinet having a pair of side walls interconnected by a third side wall,

(b) the upper ends of said pair of side walls being provided with inwardly projecting generally Z-shapedi flanges having upper and lower stretches intercon nected by vertically extending webs,

(c) a clamp swingably interconnected to each of said flanges on a first axis for swinging movement into an operative position extending oxer its associated flange tretches and Web, and

5 6 (d) a lever swingably mounted on each clamp on a neled flange for retaining an adjacent edge of said second axis transverse to said first axis and engage bag against said flange. able with cam means on said flanges for bindingly retaining said clamps against said flange stretches References Cited by the Examiner and Webs, whereby the upper end of a refuse bag 5 can be bindingly gripped between said flanges and UNITED STATES PATENTS clamps for supporting said bag in the cabinet. 652,331 6/1900 Rudolph 32- 10. A refuse container as set forth in claim 9 with 957,260 5/1910 Sackett 248-101 X the addition that 2,442,377 6/ 1948 Regele 248-1()1 (a) said third side Wall has a downwardly directed 10 3,175,760 3/1965 Worthington 232-432 channeled flange at its upper end, and b) a loop is swingably interconnected to said chan- FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

9. A REFUSE CONTAINER, COMPRISING (A) A CABINET HAVING A PAIR OF SIDE WALLS INTERCONNECTED BY A THIRD SIDE WALL, (B) THE UPPER ENDS OF SAID PAIR OF SIDE WALLS BEING PROVIDED WITH INWARDLY PROJECTING GENERALLY Z-SHAPED FLANGES HAVING UPPER AND LOWER STRETCHES INTERCONNECTED BY VERTICALLY EXTENDING WEBS, (C) A CLAMP SWINGABLY INTERCONNECTED TO EACH OF SAID FLANGES ON A FIRST AXIS FOR SWINGING MOVEMENT INTO AN OPERATIVE POSITION EXTENDING OVER ITS ASSOCIATED FLANGE STRETCHES AND WEB, AND WEB, AND (D) A LEVER SWINGABLY MOUNTED ON EACH CLAMP ON A SECOND AXIS TRANSVERSE TO SAID FIRST AND ENGAGEABLE WITH CAM MEANS ON SAID FLANGES FOR BINDINGLY RETAINING SAID CLAMPS AGAINST SAID FLANGE STRETCHES AND WEBS, WHEREBY THE UPPER END OF A REFUSE BAG CAN BE BINDINGLY GRIPPED BETWEEN SAID FLANGES AND CLAMPS FOR SUPPORTING SAID BAG IN THE CABINET. 